I felt a little bit like a man in a nightmare. You know, here's this
lovely girl waiting for you to pick her up and take her to a flick, and
when you show up at her parents' home to get her you turn out to be
stark naked in front of everybody.
Except this wasn't her parents' home. And she was stark naked too.
I took a quick glance at myself before I stepped outside. I didn't want
anything embarrassing to be going on.
I stood there in the warm morning sun with every inch of me showing,
and I fought the temptation to turn and run back inside.
"Morning," I said hesitantly.
Joanie looked up and smiled. "Hi! I was just about to go in and wake
you up for breakfast. How'd you sleep last night?"
"Fine," I said. I tried to keep my eyes above her chin, but it was a
losing proposition. They kept drifting downward as if drawn by magnets
to those two fleshy globes of hers.
"Think you can make it to the mess hall by yourself?" she asked.
"Newcomers sometimes need a while to learn how to find their way
around."
"I'm kind of doubtful," I said. "It's down the road, and turn a
little--" I shrugged. "You'd better show us. Hold on and I'll wake Jack
up."
"Right. Hurry it up, now. We don't want to be late for breakfast," she
said cheerily.
I went back into the two-bedroom cabin and pushed open the door of the
room that belonged to my buddy Jack Meehan. Meehan was sound asleep
with the covers dragged up over his head. I shook him.